Worklife after traumatic spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE

To develop predictive models to estimate worklife expectancy after spinal cord injury (SCI).

DESIGN

Inception cohort study.

SETTING

Model SCI Care Systems throughout the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

20,143 persons enrolled in the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center database since 1973.

INTERVENTION

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Postinjury employment rates and worklife expectancy.

RESULTS

Using logistic regression, we found a greater likelihood of being employed in any given year to be significantly associated with younger age, white race, higher education level, being married, having a nonviolent cause of injury, paraplegia, ASIA D injury, longer time postinjury, being employed at injury and during the previous postinjury year, higher general population employment rate, lower level of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, and calendar years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

CONCLUSIONS

The likelihood of postinjury employment varies substantially among persons with SCI. Given favorable patient characteristics, worklife should be considerably higher than previous estimates.